Sir Philip Green no longer a billionaire as fortune cut in half

Sir Philip Green is no longer a billionaire after his fortune halved in the last year, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.

The tycoon is now worth an estimated £950 million, down from £1.05 billion last year.

Sir Green’s wealth peaked at almost £5billion in 2007, and it is the first time in 17 years that he has not been listed as a billionaire.

The drop places Sir Philip and his wife Tina at 156th on the list, down from 66th in 2018.

The Arcadia Group – which includes Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins – was valued as ‘worthless’ in this year’s list, as the company copes with a pension debt which hit £565 million.

Robert Watts, who is responsible for compiling the list, said he struggles to envisage the tycoon returning to the ‘upper echelons’.

He said: ‘Sir Philip Green may have clung on to his knighthood, but we can no longer justify his status as one of the UK’s billionaires.’

News of the devaluation came after criticism against Sir Philip and calls for the Topshop tycoon to lose his knighthood following the collapse of BHS, affecting 11,000 jobs, 19,000 pension holders and leaving a £571 million deficit in the pension scheme.

The businessman, who sold the department store chain to Dominic Chappell for £1 before it went into administration, agreed to pay £363 million towards the deficit.

Sir Philip has also faced other allegations, including groping a female executive and making a racial slur at an employee.

He has denied his behaviour was criminal or amounted to gross misconduct.